Grim Tidings
by Persephone Kore
Summary: Complete. After twelve years, the life of Sirius Black is once more disrupted by the machinations of Slytherin's Heir--but this time with much different results. In the fifth installment of the Time's Riddle series, the Prisoner of Azkaban is recaptured.
1. Wrapped up with a Boa

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor material profit is intended._

**Grim Tidings  
by Alan Sauer and Persephone  
Chapter 1**

Hogwarts looked, from the outside, like a quite sturdily built castle.

Stone was, after all, generally rather solid.

Sturdy was, in fact, quite accurate. The construction however, being magical, was in some ways very... fluid. For one thing, of course, it rearranged itself in many ways both regular and ir. Then there were the secret passages... and then again there were the passages that didn't need to be secret, but no one ever noticed them anyway.

Most of those were too small for humans. The castle did suffer from a continuing plague of rats, though some unidentified individual who should have been more often blessed than was the case had managed a permeating charm that destroyed all fleas on the premises. 

The boa constrictor poked his head out into the Gryffindor common room and flicked his tongue once, then proceeded up the stairs to the third-floor boys' room.

Some of the passages were just the right size for a reasonably large snake. 

He didn't really think the basilisk would have fit through that one, though. The boa had found his way down to look, once -- not intentionally, though, as he'd only realized where he was when he heard the stones whisper to hold his peace about them, and he'd found a shed skin he could have fit into at least six times over. 

He slithered quietly under all the beds, pausing to nose into a box beneath one where someone seemed to have kindly saved him a few rolls. Humans really were handy creatures.... 

Then he settled himself comfortably in the middle of the room, where he could move swiftly to any plausible entrance unless someone managed to come through the ceiling, and drifted off to sleep.

Unlike the last few rather dull evenings, however, this time the boa was startled out of sleep by someone very large and heavy tripping over him. Since he'd been expecting something like this -- Tom had explained the situation at great length -- it was a simple matter to whip coils around what smelled like an absolutely filthy man, and even simpler to tighten the one around his right wrist until, with a pained gasp, he dropped a long knife on the floor.

"Sstop sstruggling," he hissed irritably, despite being fairly sure his captive wouldn't understand. Then, because some languages were universal, he put enough squeeze on the filthy man to make his ribs creak.

The captive wheezed and briefly redoubled his efforts, then collapsed as he ran out of breath -- and all around the circular room, bedcurtains parted and wands began to light. 

*****

Harry's sleep had been fitful since the attack on the Fat Lady, his dreams full of the Dementor-visions he'd been having regularly ever since Professor Lupin had started trying to teach him the Patronus charm. It took him a moment, therefore, to separate the struggles outside his bedcurtains from the one inside his head.

Dean's shout of surprise dragged him fully awake, however, and he pulled open his bedcurtains to reveal his four roommates training shaky wands on a fifth figure, long-haired and filthy, wrapped up by the boa constrictor like the world's largest, ugliest Christmas present. He snatched his own wand from his nightstand without taking his eyes off the man; all the curses he knew tangled on his tongue, and came out "Sirius Black" in a hard voice he barely recognized as his own.

"Hello," Black croaked. "Did they move the dormitories while I was gone?"

"No."

"Then what's a Gryffindor doing with a giant snake?"

"I was," Harry said irritably, "sleeping. Until I was interrupted by a wandering murderer." He paused and shifted to Parseltongue. "What are you doing here, anyway? I mean, why did you come here? I can see you're pinning Black, don't think I'm not grateful...." 

"Tom'ss being boring. Buried in his bookss with that friend of his. I thought maybe you'd have some leftover rollss. And then I fell assleep. And then thiss one tripped on me."

"I'm not a -- oh, for crying out -- Harry, didn't anybody ever tell you about me? I wouldn't kill you, I'm your godfather. And I didn't kill anybody else, either."

"I know you were my godfather," Harry said stonily. "My parents trusted you." 

"They did. And we all trusted the wrong person. I didn't betray them, Harry, I swear to you, I loved your father like a brother." Black sighed. "Then again, I suppose you might say I did betray them. God knows I'm responsible for their deaths. But the real traitor, the man I trusted with your parents' lives as they'd trusted me, walked free, and that's who I came to kill. Not you. Never you."

The audacity of this was -- mind-boggling. "And you're looking for him in the Gryffindor dorm. Where nobody who was over five when that happened happens to be."

"I have good reason to believe you're wrong. How much do you know about your parents' time at Hogwarts? And can you please tell your friend the very large snake to relax? I have no feeling below my knees."

"Good. That means you can't run." Harry frowned for a minute. The rest of the boys were silent, as this seemed to be primarily Harry's... conversation. Finally, he admitted, "Not much."

"I didn't think so." Black glanced around the room. "Some of what I'm about to tell you isn't strictly mine to reveal, at least not... publicly, to anyone but James Potter's son. I'll trade the rest of the feeling in my extremities for a little privacy."

"We," Harry said stubbornly, conquering his curiosity temporarily, "are all supposed to be here." 

"Then briefly and vaguely, your father had three particularly close friends during his time here. I was one, the traitor was another, the third... is the reason we came together in the first place. We used to get into a lot of trouble -- pranks, rulebreaking, the usual kid stuff. One of the things we did, as a sign of unity, was -- well, we all became Animagi. Unregistered, because it was more fun that way. Even had nicknames for our animal forms. I believe the man who betrayed your parents is here, in this school -- perhaps in this room -- in his Animagus form."

"Really."

"I daresay we were infamous enough to be remembered... have you ever heard of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?"

_That map_. Harry swallowed and tried to keep his expression from changing. "Yes."

"I was Padfoot, your father Prongs. Peter Pettigrew," and Black's face contorted into a snarl at the name, "was Wormtail. He came to me soon after your parents had decided to hide, and convinced me to let him be the Secret-Keeper in my place-because, he said, of the three of us I had been James' closest friend, and was therefore the most obvious choice."

"So you're accusing somebody else. Who is supposedly hiding in here. I suppose you're going to say it's the boa, next." 

"No. Pettigrew was a rat. Literally. Believe me, the irony was not lost on me in Azkaban."

Harry floundered for a moment. As the officially recognized pets were currently owls, cats, and toads, there was only one rat in the Gryffindor dorms... well, one pet one... and the memory of Scabbers's tendency to panic at Tom's presence was coming unbidden to mind. "You can't recognize a _rat_," he said with half-hearted incredulity. 

"I'd know him in an instant by scent, in my animal form. You'll likely want proof you can verify independently. Wormtail will probably be balding, by now -- he had a receding hairline already in seventh year; we gave him endless grief about it -- and he cut off a finger to leave as evidence I'd killed him. Seen any balding nine-toed rats about?"

Harry slowly and reluctantly took his eyes, though not his wand-point, away from Black. It was probably safe. There was, after all, a very large snake wrapped around the convict, and the boa had thoughtfully removed Black's knife.

He hadn't consciously noticed the knife before. He really didn't like the look of it. 

"Ron," he said slowly, "Scabbers always has been kind of mangy.... "

Ron spluttered. "You can't possibly think --"

"If that was why he was so terrified of Tom...." Harry stopped and eyed Black suspiciously. "And don't think we'll let you near _him_, either."

"I don't care about him. I want Pettigrew."

"You _killed_ Pettigrew!" Ron burst out.

"No, I failed. Once. He threw a curse that slaughtered several Muggles, then disappeared in the confusion, and I was blamed. Does your rat have nine toes or not?"

"...Nineteen," Ron admitted a bit sulkily.

Black grinned toothily. "Do you know where he is right now? I wouldn't be surprised if he sneaked out in _this_ commotion, that being a specialty of his -- but bring us face to face and his reaction will tell you all you need to know. And then I'll kill him."

"_If_ you're innocent," Harry said sharply, "don't you think it'd do you more good to have him alive to prove you _didn't_ kill him? And for interrogation?"

Black's grin vanished, replaced by a look of old pain. "I don't care what happens to me, Harry. Azkaban... does things to you, and none of them are very nice. Just let me avenge Lily and James... whatever the Ministry can do to me, I failed your parents first, and there's no worse punishment than that."

"You're still not going to kill anybody." He added to the boa, "Don't let him up, okay?"

"That'ss eassy, he'ss not fighting."

Ron yelped suddenly in pain. He had been clutching his squirming pet very tightly in one hand (of course, his wand was in his right) ever since they'd been awakened by the altercation between intruder and boa. He regarded Scabbers ruefully without letting him go. "I know where he is, all right...."

"Hallo, Peter," Black said, his voice low and deadly. "Did you think you were rid of me at last, and safe as a pampered pet? That rat's shape has to be getting confining by now, I daresay. Won't you greet an old friend?"

Scabbers seemed less than enthusiastic. The boa lifted his head from Black and inquired of Harry, "Are you sssstill sssure I can't eat him?"

"I don't know if I believe Black." Harry hesitated, then suggested, "Pretend. See if it scares him into transforming." 

"The boy's got a good grip on you either way, Petey old boy. You've been listening in; do you really want to bet I haven't been convincing enough to at least appeal to Dumbledore? Or that Dumbledore doesn't know a charm or two to discover an Animagus in hiding? Why not make it an old school reunion? Remus is here, it'll be almost like old times."

At this point, the boa made a lunge for Scabbers. If the distance had been much greater, the attempt wouldn't have been credible without letting go of Black; as it was, the boa had at least a few inches of length to spare when Scabbers squealed and, in the face of wide-open jaws, turned human. 

Ron grunted, abruptly squashed. Black roared and made an abortive lunge for his wand, cut short by the boa's coils. "Damn this snake -- Harry, stun him! He betrayed your parents! Stun him _now_!"

To everyone's astonishment, however, it was Neville who came out with a slightly shaky "_Petrificus Totalus_." Pettigrew went rigid and toppled off Ron's bed onto the floor. The boa nosed at him with a disappointed air.

"Well, I don't want him _now_," it grumbled to Harry. "Too big. And he can't run."

"I'll bring you lots of rolls," Harry promised a bit weakly. "Anyway, we have to show him to -- to Dumbledore." 

"Please do," Black said, eyes still fixed on Pettigrew's motionless form. "And I take it back, I don't want to kill him. I want him in Azkaban. Let him die slow."

Harry shivered, thinking of the Dementors. It suddenly occurred to him that now they could leave, couldn't they.... That would be a relief. He felt oddly cold inside anyway. Not a Dementor sort of cold -- more of the feeling that someone had dashed cold water over him, from inside his stomach. 

"I'll -- um -- go wake Percy," Ron volunteered. He gave his erstwhile pet one more highly disturbed look, then went to find his brother.

*****


	2. The Better Mousetrap

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction based on the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor material profit is intended._

****

Grim Tidings  
by Alan Sauer and Persephone  
Chapter 2

Percy proved particularly difficult to awaken. "What _is_ it, Ron?" he finally asked. "What are you doing out of bed? That's against the rules."

"We need -- Dumbledore. At least some professor." This was unexpected enough to bring Percy fully awake for, "Sirius Black's here and Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew."

"What _are_ you babbling on about? Black -- _here_? What, in Gryffindor Tower? Are you having me on? It's -- Ron, it's four in the morning. If this is a prank, I'll take House points away from you myself."

"It's not. I'm completely serious. You can come look if you want. That boa constrictor pinned him."

"What boa constrictor? Really, Ron...."

Ron looked thoroughly exasperated. "You know, the one _McGonagall_ took Harry to see because it was writing notes in Hogsmeade?"

"_Professor_ McGonagall, Ron, she's our Head of House. I've half a mind to see what she thinks about you being out of bed."

"Please do! Maybe she'll do something about Black and Pettigrew, who are on the floor BESIDE MY BED!"

"All right, that's _it_, Ron, honestly, yelling and screaming at this hour, I hope you get detention out of this." He rolled over for his wand, whispered something Ron couldn't catch, and then spoke into the air. "Yes, Professor, I'm so sorry to wake you -- yes, sorry, I'm aware of the hour, Professor, it's just my brother Ron is making a ruckus in the dorms with some wild story about Sirius Black in his bed, and I really think -- yes, Professor, the third-year dormitory, I'll -- ah, all right, Professor, we'll expect you directly." He directed a glare at Ron. "I hope you're satisfied. Professor McGonagall sounded highly put out at being awakened."

"She's coming, isn't she? I'm satisfied," Ron muttered.

Percy was apparently the soundest sleeper in all of Gryffindor, because by the time Ron had emerged from getting him to call Professor McGonagall, _everyone_ was awake and most of them were trying by turns to crowd into the doorway and get a look at Black and Pettigrew. It wasn't long before Professor McGonagall herself appeared, in a long grey bathrobe and with a few stray wisps of hair escaping her usual bun. "Percy, we did not teach you that spell so that you could disturb us at any little provocation. And as for you, Ronald, exactly what are you doing out of your bed?"

"Sirius Black's in the dorm, Professor," Ron explained stubbornly. "And he didn't kill Peter Pettigrew, apparently, because, er, the boa scared Scabbers and he turned into him.... Please just come see."

McGonagall sighed, but followed Ron up the stairs -- and froze in the doorway, her eyes going back and forth between the paralyzed Pettigrew and the besnaked Black. "I'll... just get Professor Dumbledore, then," she said faintly. "Well done, Weasleys."

Percy, for his part, was equally dumbfounded, and only managed a strangled "This is strictly against regulations...." before his knees gave out. Neville brought him a chair.

"We know," Harry said helpfully, "but we didn't really have time to ask permission." He paused, then added, "And it was Neville who petrified Pettigrew."

Percy stared a little wildly at Neville as he sank into the chair. "Good... good job, there, Longbottom, I, I, I think we should wait for Professor Dumbledore. That's what I think."

"We were doing that," Harry told him. 

"Carry on, then...."

Harry lay back on his bed against the pillows, still holding his wand tightly and feeling quite as dazed as Percy looked. To the confusion of the other boys, the next thing he said was, "I don't suppose any of you have any rolls?"

"I've got some," Seamus Finnigan said, scrabbling under his bed. "Or I did. There's just crumbs here now. Here, which one of you stole my rolls? I was saving those!"

"Sssorry." The boa ducked its head apologetically. "I wass here for a while before thiss one ssshowed up."

"He ate them," Harry translated, waving his free hand at the boa. "I was asking about them for him anyway."

Seamus glared at the boa. "Don't think I'll ever get used to that. Tell 'im not to do it again, I like a snack when I'm studying."

Harry obligingly asked the boa not to swipe food stashes without asking first, then sighed. "Maybe Tom's not as hopeless with animals as we thought."

Ron glowered at Pettigrew. "I guess not." 

Black tried to move. The boa hissed. Black eyed it warily and subsided, but asked hopefully, "Could I possibly have some circulation back? And who's Tom?"

"Ease off a little, but keep him there," Harry told the boa, and then in English added "Tom is a friend of mine. Scabbers -- or Pettigrew, I suppose -- was terrified of him and we didn't know why."

Black gasped and grimaced as the boa relaxed slightly and the pins and needles started in his numbed limbs. "And -- you do now? Why would he be somebody Peter was afraid of?" 

Harry sighed and craned his neck to look out the door. Professor Dumbledore was conspicuous in his absence. "He seems to have recognized him. Tom's a sort of... alternate version, you might say, of the boy Voldemort used to be. Before he went dark. He's actually quite nice."

Black stared at him. "He's Voldemort?" he croaked.

"No, he's not," Harry snapped. "Let's get that quite clear at the outset. He chose not to be Voldemort, which is why he's here and Voldemort is, according to Professor Dumbledore, almost certainly dead."

Black apparently gave up and went limp in the boa's coils. "Well. You certainly do... miss out on the news, in Azkaban."

There seemed to be nothing to say to this, and Harry wasn't sure enough of this filthy, rail-thin stranger to ask any of the hundred questions he had about his parents -- even if Black had been right about Peter Pettigrew. He put his wand away, though, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Guess that means," Black added after another moment, giving Pettigrew a slightly strained grin, "there's nobody for you to go scampering off to, now, is there?"

Pettigrew, being paralyzed, didn't answer him. 

Dumbledore's arrival ended the show but was a considerable relief to most of those directly involved. He sent everyone else back to bed, levitated Pettigrew, Black, and the boa, and quietly invited Harry and Ron to join in a "conference." 

Harry decided that he could understand having rousted Lupin out of bed, since he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, even if he did look unwell. Snape, however, was in Harry's opinion entirely unnecessary.

"Sirius?" Lupin asked incredulously. "And -- who is that? It looks like... but it can't be Peter, can it? What's going on?"

"I suspect we'd all like to know that," Snape drawled, but settled after a quelling look from the headmaster.

"Why don't we allow Harry to explain," Dumbledore said, steepling his fingers under his nose. "Harry?"

Harry swallowed and took a deep breath. "Well," he began, "a little bit before four o'clock we woke up to thrashing noises and found that the boa had caught Sirius Black sneaking into the dorm." 

The boa hissed -- wordlessly, even to Harry's ears, but sounding rather pleased with himself all the same.

"At least _someone_ was on guard," Snape interjected, with a pleased smile for the boa.

Harry darted a nervous glance at Snape, then fixed his eyes on Dumbledore. "Then things started to get strange." As if having a serpent guarding Gryffindor students were normally considered... normal. "He, um, claimed that he hadn't come to kill me at all, he was after Ron's rat, Scabbers, who was actually Peter Pettigrew who had been an illegal Animagus and taken over as -- " His voice gave out and he had to swallow again before finishing in a peculiar strangled tone, "As Secret-Keeper for my parents."

"A likely story," Snape sneered. "Black would say anything to keep himself out of Azkaban."

Harry looked at Pettigrew. "It... seemed a lot more likely after... I asked the boa to pretend he was going to eat Scabbers. And... Scabbers turned... human." 

"So it seems," Dumbledore replied. "And someone was very quick with a Body-Bind, considering the shock. You, Harry? Or Ron?"

"Neville, sir."

"Longbottom?" Snape laughed derisively. "I didn't know he was capable of magic without Granger whispering in his ear."

Dumbledore shot him another quelling look. "That will be enough, Severus."

"I believe Neville's managed to impress Professor Sprout," Lupin remarked pleasantly. "She mentioned that she has him helping with several of the more delicate herb beds."

The "more delicate" herb beds were those containing plants that were either difficult to grow, difficult to handle, or difficult to keep from interfering with their neighbors. They were inhabited by most of the locally grown potion ingredients.

Snape snorted quietly, but swallowed his words, and the headmaster returned his calm gaze to Harry. "And then, I gather, Ron went to wake his brother, who awoke Professor McGonagall, who contacted me, and so here we are. Perhaps it is time to hear Sirius's version of events -- I believe, in any case, that it is time Harry knew the full story, and it would appear there are elements even I do not know."

"The... whole story, Professor?" Lupin asked uncertainly.

"He is much like his father, Remus, as I am sure you have seen. If you will, Sirius?"

Black tried to sit up, hampered by the fact that he was still wrapped in a very large snake. "Where exactly," he asked raspily, looking at Lupin even though he was presumably addressing Dumbledore, "do you want me to start?"

"For Harry's sake, I believe... the very beginning. He has, I think, heard some rather distorted secondhand accounts." Dumbledore looked at them over his glasses.

"Then perhaps it's best I start," Lupin said heavily. "I almost didn't come to Hogwarts when I was young, Harry. When I was a small boy, I was bitten by a werewolf, and although my parents tried to keep it secret... well, there was no treatment for it in those days, as there is now. I think you saw Professor Snape bringing me a draught of Wolfsbane Potion that one day."

Ron made a soft choking noise. Harry's eyes went wide, but he managed weakly, "I wondered what that was."

Black's head jerked up and he looked horrified. "He -- what -- you let --" 

Remus's mouth twitched. "Calm down. Do I look poisoned to you? At any rate, Professor Dumbledore personally sponsored me, and I was allowed to attend Hogwarts, on the strict condition that at every full moon I retreat into a sanctuary that would be provided for me, so that I could not hurt anyone. That sanctuary was the Shrieking Shack -- the shrieks were my own, you see, not those of ghosts -- and to conceal the entrance to the tunnel leading there, they planted the Whomping Willow."

"James and Remus and... Peter..." Black cast a look of loathing at Pettigrew, "and I were very close friends all the time we were at Hogwarts. When the rest of us found out about Remus... we wanted to help somehow. When we found out that a werewolf isn't a danger to other animals during the transformation... well, naturally we all decided to become Animagi." 

Snape's sneer widened. "Illegally, of course. The rules were much too boring for James Potter and company."

"We couldn't have done it legally," Black retorted. "The spell's considered too dangerous for students. But we weren't about to desert our friend -- as you'd know, if you'd ever had any worth speaking of. Took us three years to work it out as it was."

"It would probably have been much quicker with proper training," Snape replied sharply.

Black snorted. "Stuck-Up Severus the Stickler. Some people don't change. Nobody would have given us proper training, obviously. We were second-years when we hit on the idea."

"Schoolboy misbehavior aside, could we possibly," McGonagall said sharply, "get to the point?"

"By the time anybody would've licensed us, it would have been too late to do Remus any good anyway," Black growled rebelliously. Then he took a deep breath and continued, "This is going to seem like quite a jump, but -- I wasn't the Potters' Secret-Keeper." He shut his eyes. "I was supposed to be. Then -- I got worried. I was the obvious choice. That was the problem." He opened them again and stared directly at Snape. "Any Death-Eater who'd seen us at Hogwarts could have guessed. I thought I could withstand the Cruciatus Curse -- Imperius I wasn't arrogant enough for. So... I suggested... Peter." The tired pain in his voice as he finished made Harry want to cringe.

"I would have done it myself," Dumbledore said, "but James and Lily refused to change their minds."

"I had the devil's own time convincing them," Black replied miserably. "And we resolved to tell no one -- not even you, Professor. A secret, we thought, was more a secret the fewer people who knew about it. And if nobody knew, the Death Eaters should have come after the wrong person...."

"You could have told me, Sirius." Lupin sounded a bit hurt.

Black winced. "Maybe we should have. Maybe --" He broke off. "I went to Godric's Hollow as soon as I heard. Hagrid -- Hagrid got there, I sent him off with the motorcycle when he said Dumbledore had told him to take you, Harry -- then I... went to find Peter." He shuddered. "I should have taken him somewhere else. But then -- even then, even knowing he'd betrayed his closest friends, I was too stupid to think he'd --"

"Kill all those Muggles," Lupin said softly. "I can't even imagine it now. For the longest time I couldn't imagine it of you, either, Sirius. I'm... sorry I ever came to believe otherwise."

"He cut off his finger before he cast the spell and turned into a rat," Black finished, sounding decidedly strained. "I didn't figure out what had happened until Fudge dropped off a newspaper in my cell -- it had a picture of Ron, there -- and he had Wormtail on his shoulder. One toe missing."

Ron shuddered, and looked disgustedly down at Pettigrew. "The chess tournament. To think that's what started all this."

"I was almost surprised he gave it to me... but anyway... I'd been spending a lot of time as a dog, in Azkaban. Couldn't feel the Dementors as much that way. And they couldn't sense me that way... so I finally managed to slip out. And come looking for him." Black slumped in the snake's coils. "I'd been planning to kill him, I admit it. Already served time for it, after all... I think, though, I'd rather see him in Azkaban."

"Perhaps we had better hear from Peter himself," Dumbledore said. "Harry, if you will please be so kind as to ask your friend to release Sirius and take a position near Peter, I will reverse Mr. Longbottom's spell."

The boa looked at Harry and was uncoiling before his first hiss. Harry stopped after "Would you please --" and shrugged. "Thanks." Black looked extremely relieved.

Dumbledore took out his wand and performed the countercurse, and Pettigrew collapsed in a mewling heap. "Please, Professor -- it's all lies, what Sirius is saying -- Remus, you believe me, don't you? He killed Lily and James, Remus, I've been hiding from him for twelve years!"

Black made an abortive lunge at Pettigrew; Harry started, but Black checked himself as surely as the boa would have and settled back, breathing heavily. "Little... lying... rat...."

"It would seem to be unusually prescient of you, Peter, to realize twelve years in advance that Sirius would make his heretofore unprecedented escape from Azkaban," Dumbledore said, his eyes unusually hard.

Pettigrew's eyes flicked wildly around the room. "Severus! Severus, you'll believe me, won't you? You know what Sirius is capable of, after all -- you know I could never hurt anyone...."

"I know no such thing as that last," Snape said precisely, surprising Harry considerably. "But perhaps he was aware of the effect -- or lack thereof -- the Dementors would have on a dog. I _do_ know what Black is capable of."

Sirius growled "It was only a prank, Snape, and I never would have pulled anything of the kind on James -- or on innocent Muggles."

"It was only attempted murder!" Snape's voice rose. 

"There will be time --" As Dumbledore's voice rose, Pettigrew tensed to spring -- and the boa whipped around him with a snake's speed. "There will be time, I say," Dumbledore continued, "for the rehashing of old grudges later. I believe for now we shall find somewhere to secure Mr. Pettigrew until the morning, when I shall escort him -- and you, Sirius -- to the Ministry for trial."

Black swallowed. "All right. That's -- good." 

Pettigrew choked at the word "trial" and wriggled around to face Harry. "Please, Harry, your father was always a good friend to me -- Ron, I was a good pet to you, wasn't I? All these years? You'll help me, won't you?"

They were both silent. Finally, Ron said, looking desperately unhappy and not a little bewildered by the whole thing, "If you did know something to make you think Black would be able to get out, why didn't you ever want to warn anybody?"

"I was too frightened! I was -- I was --" He looked wildly around the room again. "My death was the only thing keeping me safe from Sirius's friends, the other Death Eaters! They would've pounced on me in a moment if they knew I was alive, after I tracked their lord's right-hand man!"

"Thisssss one ssssmellsss like he'ss lying," the boa remarked to Harry, lifting his head. "Jussst thought you might want to know."

"You were too frightened to warn anybody that the most dangerous man in Azkaban might be able to get out," Ron summarized flatly. "I thought you were in Gryffindor."

"He always was a little tagalong," Black grated. "Always wanted his strong friends to hide behind. What was your price, Wormtail? What did Voldemort give you to sell out James and Lily?"

"You don't know!" Pettigrew snapped, and Harry shivered at his sudden resemblance to a cornered rat. "How could you? Always the strong one, you were, never afraid of anything! But you weren't strong enough in the end, so of course you came to little Peter, gave him the burden with never a care that he might break! Oh yes!"

Black spat full in his face. "You were passing information to Voldemort for a year before James and Lily were killed. If it hadn't been for you, they never would have had to hide. Don't you dare blame me for your weakness."

"Harry?" Ron's voice broke into the conversation again suddenly, sounding anxious, just as Dumbledore and Lupin both moved to calm Black. "Harry? Are you all right?" Ron continued in an urgent whisper. "You've gone all white."

"The boa said Pettigrew was lying."

"Only qualitatively, I suspect," Snape, of all people, murmured. "I have no doubt that he really was hiding from the Death-Eaters-they certainly would be suspicious that Voldemort fell as a result of the information he gave them, and Death-Eaters are not patient in their suspicion."

"You would know, wouldn't you," Pettigrew snarled.

Snape smiled. "I was fully exonerated, Pettigrew; by Professor Dumbledore's own word, the accusations against me were deemed baseless. I had no reason to pretend to be a housepet for twelve years."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Sirius and Peter will both be questioned under Veritaserum. After we have all had a chance to get some sleep."

"...Why wasn't he the first time? Black, I mean," Ron asked. "Seems like it would've saved a lot of trouble."

"I believe," Dumbledore said, sounding very tired all of a sudden, "that there was considered to be too much evidence already to make it worth the risk of waiting to imprison him until a new batch could be created."

"And then, of course, they had their man," Black said levelly. "Don't sugar-coat it, Professor, the Ministry was out for blood." He laughed rustily. "Rather ironic, really, since I had been as well."

"Not too unusual a state of affairs, unfortunately," Snape muttered.

Black glared, but remained silent.

"I am glad to have you back, Sirius," Lupin said finally. He ignored the look Snape gave him.

"I am... glad to hear you say that, Remus," Black said, a tear trickling through the grime on his face. "Can you forgive me for not trusting you with the change in plans?"

"Yes," Remus replied unhesitatingly. After a second, however, he added, "But I might make you come explain to Sybil Trelawney that you are not a Grim, in revenge."

"Oh, ye gods, Remus, and I thought Azkaban was horrifying. Is she still predicting doom and destruction to anyone who walks through her door?"

"Apparently she predicts Harry's death on a weekly basis. Voldemort's destruction doesn't seem to have deterred her a bit."

Black doubled over with mirth. "Do you remember, she did the same thing to James! If it wasn't drowning, it was being hit on the head by a hail of frogs!"

Snape looked rather nonplussed at the latter image, then abruptly sour. "I'm sure she came in with betrayal at some point or another," he snapped.

The comment, as Snape surely had intended, cut through the laughter like a knife. Lupin sighed, and managed to cut Black's retort off. "We're all tired, Severus. I think perhaps we should take the headmaster's advice and get some sleep before we rehash any more of the past."

"I thought you were nocturnal," Snape muttered. "Don't forget your potion tonight. It's nearly the full moon." 

"I didn't."

"Perhaps you should show Sirius to one of the guest suites, Remus," Dumbledore said softly. "I shall take charge of Mr. Pettigrew here. Severus, Harry, Ron: thank you, and sleep well."

The boa unwound himself from Pettigrew, rubbed his head against Harry's ankle, then started to slither off. "I think I'll head back down to Sssslytherin dorms now," he hissed. "Find ssssome ratsss I can actually eat."

"Good work tonight," Harry hissed back. "Thank you."

The boa gave the serpentine equivalent of a smile before sliding past the Potions master's feet.

*****


	3. Clearing the Air

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor material profit is expected._

****

Grim Tidings  
by Alan Sauer  
and Persephone  
Chapter 3

Clear. 

The word kept tumbling about in his head as if no part of his mind could quite catch and comprehend it. He tried to apply it to the sky, but there were clouds covering half of it, even if the sunlight shafted through them and gilded the edges. He tossed it at the glass in the window of the Hogwarts Express, but the glass was too smooth, and it wouldn't stick.

After twelve years of the same walls, the same food, the same memories echoing in his head, the events of the last day seemed impossibly fast to Sirius. He'd gone from a hunted, hated fugitive to... what? A free man? Remus Lupin's friend, once again?

Harry Potter's godfather?

Cleared. Free.

Sirius Black stared at his own reflection in the window and mouthed the words carefully. After all this time clinging miserably to the knowledge that he was innocent as despair tried to suck him down, he could hardly believe that anyone _else_ believed it now. That it was legally true. That he'd spilled his guts under Veritaserum to the Ministry and a jury and he -- had -- been -- acquitted. 

The trial had been mercifully short. He barely remembered the taste of the Veritaserum, the questions he'd been asked... maybe he'd remember it better after a little distance, but for now the only thing that stood out was the judge asking the jury to raise their hands in favor of acquittal, and twelve wizards and witches doing so without hesitation.

Some niggling part of his mind pointed out that it still didn't seem fair he had to pay a fine for having escaped from Azkaban when he hadn't belonged there anyway. There had been another for having become an unregistered Animagus, plus the registration fee, but those were perfectly reasonable, really. It was the fine for escaping that seemed absurd. Didn't the time he'd served unjustly count against that? Still -- he couldn't bring himself to care. He had the money. The fine wasn't so bad.

He was _free_. 

Wormtail was going to rot.

And he was on his way back to Hogwarts to see his _godson_.

His godson. Harry. Seeing Harry at thirteen was the sharpest reminder of how long it had been, and the slice had been all the keener for being unfelt while he gaped up at what looked for all the world like James's face at that age. 

It hardly seemed real. The world was too big, suddenly; all the walls had come down. He'd stood paralyzed on Azkaban's shore before diving into the sea, staggered by the horizon; this felt just the same. He had too many choices. Too many things that needed to be done.

He'd need a house -- would Harry want to come live with him? And a job, because he couldn't live off his Gringotts account forever. And a new wand. And an Apparition license. And a haircut. And, and, and....

But Moony would help.

And he could be to Harry what he should have been twelve years ago; what James and Lily had trusted him to be, what he'd thrown away in his grief.

That was the only thing that mattered. He had life, and hope, and family again.

The brakes of the train squealed, pulling into the station, and to Sirius Black it was the sound of freedom.

*****

The carriage ride from Hogsmeade took Sirius eerily back to his school days -- the cheerfully rattling axles and bouncy seats were very familiar. But if the carriage had been this quiet back then, it would have been a sure bet that he and his friends were plotting something; instead, every time he looked up, Albus Dumbledore was occupying one seat and large piles of chocolate and a few other sweets the rest.

He knew Dumbledore had a sweet tooth, and he had been vaguely aware that the headmaster had spent most of the time on the train talking to the lady with the food cart. Sirius suspected, however, that Dumbledore was trying to feed him enough chocolate to counteract the effects of twelve years of Azkaban's Dementors and Azkaban's food. 

At least, he hoped that was it. Otherwise Dumbledore had been replaced by a doppelganger who was trying to make him eat enough to burst, and he didn't really like that idea.

Fortunately it seemed to be only a paranoid imagining, and he arrived at Hogwarts un-exploded -- and, curiously, not nearly as full as he would have thought. Dumbledore led him into the staffroom. "It occurs to me that you may want some time to rest and think -- in one place -- before you begin to be announced and congratulated."

"Thanks, Professor." Sirius smiled a touch nervously. "One of your famous world-shaking dinner announcements, eh?"

"I thought that would seem appropriate. Unless you should prefer another method?"

"No, that'll be fine. Get it all done at once. Besides, I've never seen that hallful of shocked expressions from the staff table."

"It's quite enjoyable," Dumbledore promised him. "Now, unless you wish to converse, I shall leave you in peace for the remaining hour or so -- except, of course, for any teachers wishing to use the room. Don't worry; I shall alert them to your presence and the verdict ahead of time."

"Thanks, sir." He grinned abruptly. "This'll be the first time I've been _supposed_ to be lurking alone in the staff-room."

Dumbledore smiled as he headed for the door. "Please restrain yourself from recreational sabotage this time." His eyes and glasses glinted as he looked over his shoulder. "After all, I _will_ know it was you."

Sirius chuckled. "Thanks for everything, Professor."

"You're very welcome." Dumbledore closed the door and left Sirius in temporary peace.

Sirius threw his hair out of the way over the back of a chair and closed his eyes to think about all the possibilities and all the things he needed to do. He didn't realize he had been dozing until he woke with a start to a sharp voice whose words he hadn't quite caught.

Remus's smoother tones followed, half reproachful and half amused. "Really, Severus, couldn't you have let him sleep? I have been, for the past ten minutes."

"He is going to have to deal with the petty annoyances of freedom soon enough anyway; why should I change my routine to his liking?"

"You routinely come into the staffroom before dinner and address the furniture as Sirius Black? I _have_ been missing a show."

"He is," Snape said precisely, "lounging in my usual chair."

"Oh, is that the problem?" Sirius asked lazily. Then he opened his eyes properly and blinked. "Why, Snape, when did you take up wearing a boa?"

"Since it attempted to strangle an escaped convict. I thought it deserved a reward." Snape paused, then continued coldly, "And it is the nominal pet of one of my students, Black, so you may cease entertaining any thoughts you may have in the direction of stranding another of my pets atop a Quidditch goalpost."

"One of _your_ students? It seemed to be answering to Harry last night."

Somehow, Snape's expression managed to sour further. "As Potter is one of two Parselmouths currently at the school, naturally they have an association."

"Oh, that's right, he mentioned Tom-who-is-apparently-not-Lord-bloody-Voldemort. Must be interesting to have _him_ in class."

"Riddle is an excellent student with an unfortunate tendency to make trouble that is only exacerbated by his attachment to the Weasley girl. He does not so far appear to have developed the... particular ambitions of his other life. He is also my problem, _not_ yours."

Sirius blinked. "There's a Weasley in Slytherin? How long has it been since _that_ happened?"

"No, there isn't," Remus corrected him. "Severus assigned them to work together in his class; it seems to have been quite a remarkable success."

"That depends _entirely_ on your definition of success."

"Both students seem to be doing very well in all their classes, and I understand they've launched an effort to spread the notion of inter-House cooperation and amity." Remus paused. "This doesn't seem to have affected anyone's enthusiasm for competition, mind."

"Nor their appetite for troublemaking. Though I do admit to some relief now that Weasley is no longer causing anything to explode. She was approaching Longbottom's record for uselessness at the beginning of the year."

Sirius made a mental note to find out the real story on that later on. He couldn't very well argue without having a clue who these people were. "I blame her partner," he declared, "at least until I meet them. But if you're so keen on the rules, when did giant snakes get added to the approved pet list?"

"The boa is a special case, and both Potter and Riddle are standing warrant for its behavior." Snape petted the boa's head absently. "Besides, it is a remarkably well-behaved animal."

The boa arched its neck and hissed proudly. Sirius blinked at it. Remus chuckled. "You might want to watch what you say about it, Sirius. Judging from its reaction time last night, I'm not at all sure it can't understand English."

"I did wonder about that." Sirius snickered. "Amazing how many things calm down in the presence of friendly animals, eh, Remus?"

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Surely you are not comparing _me_ to --"

Sirius grinned. This was another thing that was just like his student days. He could still get a rise out of Snape. "Well, he did, you know. Every time. Just like you do with that boa."

"Neither I nor the boa is a deadly, ravenous beast!"

"Not ravenous, maybe, but it could've killed me if Harry'd told it to!"

"Pity he didn't!"

"Both of you, be quiet!"

"Sorry, Remus." 

"I will not be silenced at your -- oof." Receiving a soothing hug from a boa constrictor was not on most people's list of desired activities. 

"Now. Since _I_ was the deadly ravenous beast in question, and I didn't _ask_ to be the engine of a prank --"

"A murder attempt!"

"It was not!"

"AS I WAS SAYING! Sirius, you're going to apologize to Severus, who was kind enough to brew Wolfsbane Potion for me all year _despite_ our past history, and Severus, you're going to accept his apology. Or we all stay here until the next full moon and the situation gets resolved on its own." 

Snape, who was accustomed to the werewolf being unusually even-tempered in human form, stared. Sirius stared as well, not so much out of surprise at Remus's behavior but more due to the appalled realization that he was really going to have to apologize to... _Snape_. 

"What, apologize? And mean it? It was just a joke that got out of hand, Remus, you know that, and James stopped it before anything permanent happened. I mean, it's not like I _meant_ to kill the slimy git, obviously." 

Remus closed his eyes. "Not," he said tightly, "to him. And quite frankly, if James had _not_ stopped it and I had killed or... infected Severus _or anyone else_, it would have made very little difference to me that you _meant_ it as a joke." 

"Well...." Sirius looked down at his hands. This felt alarmingly like being dressed down by his father. Remus was too _young_ to sound like that, dammit, and the grey hair wasn't helping. "You're right. Damn." He turned to Snape. "Look, you -- er, look, Snape, I've never been good at thinking things all the way through. James and... Peter... were the planners. And I was used to Remus being pretty calm, you know, around us, so I didn't figure he'd do more than give you a scare to keep you out of our business. I thought you were a nosy git and a rules-bound prig, but I never wanted you dead. Or turned into a werewolf. So... sorry. Really." He shot a sidelong look at Remus. "Satisfied?" 

"_Calm_?" Snape said incredulously under his breath. 

"I don't know yet," Remus said, looking at Snape expectantly. 

Snape ground his teeth and put a hand on the boa. "I still find it _incredible_ that you could consider that behavior a _joke_. But under the circumstances, I... suppose I can attribute it in part to stupidity rather than entirely to malice." He nodded sharply, jerkily. "Apology accepted." 

Remus sighed, and could have sworn the boa did too. 

"Right, then." Sirius fixed Snape with a glare. "So you're not going to do any bloody stupid revenge thing like tell the whole school about Remus, then? Because if he loses his job because of something you do, I'm going to pound you into next week." 

"_Sirius_...." 

"I have already been requested to keep that information from my students, and Albus Dumbledore's requests carry a good deal more weight with me than yours, Black."  
  
"Well, as long as Remus keeps his job, I'm satisfied. Aren't many places that'll hire a werewolf, and he was always good at Defense." 

Snape glowered. 

"What? He was." 

"He'd better have been, I suppose." 

Sirius snorted. "Well, he got better marks there than _you_ did, as I recall."

"I suppose being a Dark creature gave him extra insight."

"Oh, now you're just jealous. Unless you really _are_ a vampire now." 

"Please. Both of you." Remus rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm beginning to feel as if the boa is the only other sensible person in the room." 

"I was in prison for twelve years. What's his excuse?" 

"I've been coping with dunderhead students!"

"And why the hell Dumbledore thought _you_ should be turned loose on unsuspecting children I'll never understand." 

"Penance, and a warning?"

"What, like 'There are gits in the world, here's the worst one, get used to it quick?' I suppose." 

"At least _I_ know the material --"

"I'm not arguing _that,_ you've spent half your life muttering at cauldrons. The bit that gets me is you spend the other half being miserable to people." 

"Oh, no, I can do both at the same time."

"No doubt." Sirius frowned. "I'll be looking after Harry from here on." 

"Well, that should be an unmitigated disaster."

"Will be for you if I hear you're being unfair to him." 

"I assure you that I will not tolerate your encouragement of his rulebreaking tendencies."

Sirius broke out into a grin. "He's got rulebreaking tendencies? Good for him! Not what I meant, though. I can't have been the only one to note the family resemblance, and you're just the sort who'd make Harry pay for your old grudge with James. And I won't have that; he'll have had enough of that from Lily's sister already even if only half of what she used to say was true." 

Snape ground his teeth. "I neither know nor _care_ about Evans's sister. Potter has no regard for rules or authority -- which I'm certain will delight you, and may you suffer his ignoring _you_ -- and to all appearances has every intention of getting himself killed despite anyone else's efforts to the contrary."

Sirius snorted. "Well, I'll just _bet_ he has no regard for _your_ rules or authority. And he's still alive, so obviously _intentions_ don't count for much. -- You should have seen him up there last night, Remus. Thought he was facing his parents' murderer and he was cool as anything. James wasn't a patch on him for nerve." 

Remus tilted his head thoughtfully and spoke before Snape could do more than snarl. "He's braver than he thinks he is, I believe. You should have a talk with him tonight."

"I want to. I hope -- well, never mind. But I want to get to know him. I've got a lot of years to make up." 

Whatever Snape was about to say was interrupted by a soft chime; he swept haughtily out of the room instead. Remus allowed himself a boyish smirk at the Potions Master's back, then patted Sirius on the shoulder. "Well, we can start you off with a good Hogwarts dinner, then. Come on." 

*****


	4. Homeward Star

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction based on the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. No undue claim nor any material profit is intended._

**Grim Tidings  
by Alan Sauer  
and Persephone  
Chapter 4/4**

Sirius stared into the fire late that night, absently running his fingers along the wand in his lap. Dumbledore had silenced the Great Hall that night and brought him forward -- announced the acquittal, and Pettigrew's deception and capture and conviction, and that Sirius was now Harry's guardian....

....And everyone had sat there stunned, lost, trying to process it -- not that he could blame them, it was hard enough for him to realize. 

And then Harry had stood up from the table and lifted his wand to fire off a fountain of red and gold sparks until nobody could see through the glittering cloud that his hand was shaking. The girl and boy sitting with him had followed suit seconds later, and it had spread until there was a veritable rainbow over the Gryffindor table -- and disconcertingly, an answering shower of celebratory sparks from some of the smaller Slytherins. 

The Great Hall had been a glowing blur for Sirius for several long moments. And he'd been seized, illogically, with the urge to walk up to Hogsmeade, Floo to Diagon Alley, and buy himself a new wand. Right away.

So he had. 

It was a duplicate of his old one, broken twelve years past when he'd been convicted and sent to Azkaban... he'd thought somehow that it would be a different make, but though he'd tried different wands in Ollivander's shop it had once again been ebony and dragon heartstring, resilient, thirteen inches long, that had shot the familiar golden sparks. Did that mean he hadn't really changed in Azkaban?

He'd thought many things would be different, now that he was free. Peter was on his way to Azkaban, bound to his human shape and rat-killing wards to be placed around his cell. No Animagus tricks would help him escape as they had Sirius. 

He tried to feel the satisfaction, the elation, that he'd dreamed of for twelve years and felt earlier that day, but it had left with the sun and he felt only emptiness. Peter's testimony at the trial had been quite complete. Too complete for Sirius' comfort. He had hoped to celebrate the unmasking of a traitor... but found himself mourning a boyhood friend, a quiet young man with a wry sense of humor who had been lost long ago without Sirius noticing.

There was a knock at the door. The hour was very late for visitors... but perhaps Remus had come by for a drink and a talk. "It's unlocked, Moony," he called. But when the door opened, someone else stepped into the room, the firelight gleaming off wire-framed glasses and a grave young face under a shock of unruly black hair, and Sirius' heart clenched.

"Harry. Come in, please, sit down. I wasn't expecting you -- it's after lights-out, isn't it? How did you get by Filch?" He knew he sounded like a bloody idiot, but he couldn't look at Harry without hearing James and Lily asking him to take care of their son, if something happened... and then something had, and he'd broken his word.

Harry absently waved a swatch of shimmery cloth, and Sirius bit back a chuckle. James' old cloak. He should have known. "Ah, yes. If that cloak could talk, Harry...." He shook his head ruefully. "Please sit down. What can I do for you?"

Harry sat stiffly in the other chair, and paused for a long moment, avoiding Sirius' eyes. Finally he glanced up. "Mr. Black...."

"Sirius, please. Mr. Black was --" His father had died while Sirius was in prison. His mother had followed soon after. Neither had known their son was innocent. They might have preferred it if he hadn't been. "Call me Sirius."

"Sirius, then. I don't... want to bother you, I know it's been a long day...."

"Not that long, Harry." He smiled, uncertainly; he'd almost forgotten how. "Any time you ever want something from me, it's not been too long a day."

Harry looked away again, and Sirius mentally cursed himself. Never mind it was far too soon to really act like the boy's godfather... he'd met Lily's sister once, and if Harry was at all used to people going out of their way to accommodate him after twelve years with that woman, Sirius would eat his new wand.

Finally Harry looked up again, and the look in his green eyes pierced Sirius to the heart. "I only thought... if you weren't too tired, I mean... it's just that you -- well, you knew my mum and dad better than just about anyone, and I just...."

Sirius smiled, and blinked away a pricking at the corners of his eyes. "Of course, Harry. James and Lily... of course. No, I'm not too tired. What do you want to know?"

"Well... anything. What were they like?"

"Well, your mum, Lily... stubborn woman, she was. Very gentle, usually, but cross her and she'd flare up like a phoenix, just that hot and fierce. And James... James ended up more of a brother to me than my real one." Sirius shook his head as Harry's mouth started to open. "Never mind my family for tonight; we're on yours. Didn't meet James until we'd got up to the dorms, really -- I mean, I'd seen him get Sorted, and all, and the Blacks and the Potters are both solid old wizarding blood to say the least, so I knew who he was... but at dinner I was too busy flicking peas at Isobel Figg when the prefects weren't looking to strike up a conversation.

"I'd sort of assumed I'd end up the leader for the boys in our year -- I'd known Peter a bit from before, and we'd played together a bit with some Muggle boys as young kids, and I'd always taken the lead there," and caught his mother's best harpy impression for it too, "but James, well," Sirius smiled. "I'll not say we didn't have our scuffles, but... you'll have been told you look just like him, I expect, and you do, but it's more than anything a sort of air you both have. You're quieter with it -- James was always outgoing, and could fill a room with his laughter -- but I look at your friends, Ron and... Hermione, isn't it? And I see the three of us, how we used to be, and you as James, the one who brought us together. He inspired people, James did. Once you were his friend, there was nothing he wouldn't do for you, and... you never quite knew what to do with that kind of regard but return it, so there ended up being nothing you wouldn't do for him." Sirius felt his voice go ragged, and wiped tears from his eyes, and gazed back into the fire for a long moment to get himself together.

"Anyway, we got into loads of trouble -- and had loads of fun together -- at school, and then in the summer after our last year, James and Lily got married. He was more surprised than any of us were -- I swear, Lily spent more time that year fuming about what a clueless sod he was being, and she was right. After all the time he'd spent chasing her before that, too -- and back then she fumed about him being a berk. But they sorted themselves out at last.

"That, of course, was the year Voldemort really got moving. There'd been rumors and disappearances for a few years before that, but that Halloween was the first of the big Muggle-killings, and things got... things got very bad very quickly. I was apprenticed to your friend Ron's father at the time, in the Muggle Artifacts office, and he brought the four of us and Lily into Dumbledore's confidence." Sirius took a deep breath and sighed. "And James quickly became Dumbledore's right hand, and our public face. He was the best Chaser for Puddlemere in forty years, from a respected old family, outspoken and charismatic and brave as anything... when he spoke, even people who thought Dumbledore stuffy and outmoded sat up and listened. And James took one of the toughest jobs of any of us: he was our designated target. He made public appearances, announcements on the Wireless, was on the forefront of nearly every big raid... anything to get the Death-Eaters so riled up at him that they'd strike where we could get at them, James did, and your mum was right there with him every step of the way, on top of all the work she was doing for Experimental Charms. And it worked, too... and then they had you, and scaled back, let the Aurors take up the reins... but it was too late by then, they'd drawn Voldemort's personal attention."

He stopped again, swallowing and eyeing Harry carefully. The boy was staring into the fire too, unblinking, the glare off his glasses making his Lily-green eyes look almost gold. "And everybody knew it," Harry said after a moment, in the scratchy sort of whisper that came when the tears ran down your throat instead, "but not that there was somebody who _wouldn't_ do anything for him."

"None of us did. Well, Peter, I suppose, but..." Sirius laughed harshly. "I thought if any of us was likely to turn, it would be Remus... that Voldemort could force him, as a werewolf. I was a bloody fool, and you've been paying the price of it all your life. 'I'm sorry' doesn't begin to say it."

"Don't." Harry swallowed this time. "...Professor Lupin's been teaching me the Patronus."

"He was always good at that. Teaching, and Defense." Sirius shivered. "Hope you didn't get the practical on that one."

"I've been practicing on a boggart."

Sirius chuckled. "Trust Moony to think of something like that. No, I meant... actual Dementors."

"No. ...Just the ones who went by before the lessons, so I couldn't exactly try it on them."

"I saw that Quidditch match. Ran away when they...." He shuddered. "I was so afraid you'd been hurt."

"Dumbledore got rid of them that time. 'S what Ron and Hermione said."

"He's got the strongest Patronus I've ever seen." Sirius stared into the fire and sighed, drumming his fingers on the armrest, then turned to meet Harry's eyes. "Look, Harry, I know -- we don't know each other very well yet, and everything's still settling, but... well, once I've had a chance to find a place -- Remus is helping me look for a house -- I just thought, if you wanted, well, James and Lily named me your guardian, as well as your godfather, if anything happened to them. So if you wanted, you could come stay with me."

Harry opened his mouth, blinked, and stopped for several long seconds as if someone had sneaked up and snatched the words out of his throat. Then he swallowed again, convulsively. "I -- I could?"

"It won't be a big place -- I've got quite a lot set aside, but it won't stretch that far until I get a job somewhere -- and I understand if you've already said you'd stay at the Weasleys' this summer. But after that... well, it's up to you."

"You'd want me to?"

It was Sirius' turn to blink in surprise. "Of _course_ I would. Even if your parents hadn't asked me to, even if -- I would've taken you in that night, only Hagrid showed up with orders from Dumbledore. And from everything I've heard about you, and seen, you deserve at least a home. I don't know how much of one I can give you, but... if you want it, it's yours."

Harry swallowed again, then grinned slowly. "Of -- course I do." He winced when his voice cracked on the second word, but he'd sat up very straight and it looked for all the world like he was on the verge of bouncing in the chair. "You mean it?"

Sirius grinned back. "Yes, of course I mean it. I'm not damn well letting you go back to Lily's sister now I've got the right to say something about it. I can't imagine _she's_ changed."

"Well, not that I remember." A slight pause; Harry's head tilted birdishly. "Do you think I -- we -- could still _visit_ the Weasleys?"

"Of course you could. Why not? They're your friends." Sirius chuckled. "I might come with you, if they'll forgive me. I can't imagine a better way to forget Azkaban food than at Molly Weasley's table."

"I think she'd like to have you -- once she knows." Harry winced. "Oh. They're all going to be... really upset, finding out about Scabbers."

Sirius nodded. "If I know Molly, she already thinks of you as very nearly one of her own." He smiled faintly at a fond memory. "It'll be hard news, and worse for that, but they're strong."

"Ron's still kind of stunned. ...Crookshanks spent the whole evening purring. Er, that's Hermione's cat."

"Yes, I know. Part Kneazle, if I'm any judge. He's been very helpful."

"He has? No wonder he's smug."

"He deserves to be. Figured out I wasn't a dog, figured out what I was up to, and stole the passwords for me after my, ah, conversation with the Fat Lady." Sirius coughed uncomfortably. "I should go apologize to her. We always used to get on pretty well."

"Maybe if you do that, she'll come back." Harry blinked. "Wait. Stole them? From where?"

"I don't know exactly. Brought me this list of them in his mouth one night. Careless of somebody, whoever it was."

"That's... odd." Harry frowned. "Unless Crookshanks can write, I suppose. The boa can."

"Talented. Remus told me he suspected it understood English."

"He does. I sort of accidentally let him out of the zoo before I came here, and he found his way to Hogsmeade somehow and wrote messages in the dirt asking for me."

"Must've been a spectacle. What do you think of Hogsmeade so far? I remember we couldn't wait to get out of the castle our third year."

"Well... we haven't had that many weekends, and the Dursleys wouldn't sign my pass."

"They wouldn't -- what? That's a load of --" Sirius coughed. "I'll speak to Dumbledore tomorrow, we'll get that sorted out right away. It's not proper Hogwarts without Zonko's and Honeydukes and butterbeer."

Harry grinned. "That sounds _great_."

"Well, it's the least I can do. Not the last, though. I have Plans." Sirius grinned. "I am reliably informed that you have no respect for rules and authority, for one thing; a laudable trait which ought to be encouraged. And then, of course, there's Christmas."

Harry stared at him uncertainly. "You've been talking to Snape, haven't you?"

"Well, it was mostly Remus talking at both of us. Don't worry, I know better than to believe a word out of Snape's mouth where you're concerned."

Harry relaxed slightly. "That's good." The briefest of hesitations. "You said Christmas. Does that mean I could come," he swallowed, "home with you for it?"

"If I have one by then, absolutely. And we could invite all your friends, if you like." Sirius made a private promise to himself that he _would_ have a place by Christmas, if he had to terrify someone out of theirs to do it. He was going to have Harry home with him, and _not_ in his own parents' nightmare house.

"That," Harry said softly, "would be really nice." He grinned suddenly. "I'd been hoping, with Tom instead of Voldemort, that I wouldn't have to go back with the Dursleys. But I hadn't reckoned on it being... well... I'd thought the Weasleys would probably let me, and maybe," a slight squirm, "I could get them to let me help pay for things if it were longer term, since I don't like to put them out."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that now. Long as you don't mind instant meals, I'm afraid I'm not much of a cook."

"I can cook some. Well... only Muggle-style...."

"I'll keep that in mind." He grinned. "My old flat had a Muggle kitchen, actually -- one reason the rent was so low. And Lily never quite got used to wizarding cooking. We used to tease her about that. All that groundbreaking experimental work and she never could get the hang of a simple Broiling Charm."

"I'm not sure," Harry said meditatively, "that it seems like a very good idea to tease somebody too much if they're very good at _most_ charms."

"No one ever accused me of wisdom. She turned my teeth green once." He chuckled. "The young lady I was pursuing at the time was somewhat less than bowled over."

"...Yuck."

"Yes, well, that was the last time I made fun of her cooking." Sirius winced slightly. That had been September, and the last time for a lot of things.

"I bet." Harry was quiet for a long moment, chewing on his lip. "You don't mind talking about them, do you? It's... nice to be able to ask." He smiled a little again. "And nice to think about being home somewhere that doesn't involve the Dursleys."

"It helps me, too, you know. Talking about them. Helps me remember the good things, not just... what Azkaban left me. And we'll have plenty of time for me to tell you all of it." He smiled. "You'll always have a home with me."

Harry was staring into the fire again and blinking hard behind his glasses. After a moment he looked up and smiled back. "That's _really_ good to hear. Hard to believe it's only been a day since I thought we wanted to kill each other."

Sirius smiled. "I'm still expecting to wake up to the sound of Aurors crashing in on me. It's been a very busy day." He stared at the fire a moment himself, then blinked, his gaze shifting to the clock on the mantel. "And it's far too late at night for you to be up. I'm always glad to see you, Harry, but I'll still be here in the morning. Go to bed."

Harry looked decidedly startled for a moment, eyes wide and jaw just a bit slack, and then hopped up with a slightly mad grin spreading across his face. "I will. Good night."

Still beaming, he flipped James's Invisibility Cloak over his head on his way to the door. Sirius watched it open and close, then shook his head.

He somehow didn't think Harry was up to anything, not tonight. Which only made it all the more telling for a thirteen-year-old boy to look that delighted at having someone to tell him to go to bed.

*****


End file.
